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Notch signaling in the mammalian central nervous system: insights from mouse mutants

Nature Neuroscience volume 8, pages 709–715 (2005)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 October 2005

Abstract

The Notch pathway, although originally identified in fruit flies, is now among the most heavily studied in mammalian biology. In mice, loss-of-function and gain-of-function work has demonstrated that Notch signaling is essential both during development and in the adult in a multitude of tissues. Prominent among these is the CNS, where Notch has been implicated in processes ranging from neural stem cell regulation to learning and memory. Here we review the role of Notch in the mammalian CNS by focusing specifically on mutations generated in mice. These mutations have provided critical insight into Notch function in the CNS and have led to the identification of promising new directions that are likely to generate important discoveries in the future.

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Figure 1: The Notch pathway in mammals.
Figure 2: Analyses of mouse mutants have supported many roles for Notch signaling in the developing and adult CNS.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank M. Starz-Gaiano and H. Mason for critical reading of the manuscript. N.G. is supported by grants from the Burroughs Wellcome fund, the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) of the US National Institutes of Health.

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  1. Institute for Cell Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, 21205, Maryland, USA

    Keejung Yoon & Nicholas Gaiano

  2. Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, 21205, Maryland, USA

    Keejung Yoon & Nicholas Gaiano

  3. Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, 21205, Maryland, USA

    Nicholas Gaiano

  4. Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, 21205, Maryland, USA

    Nicholas Gaiano

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Yoon, K., Gaiano, N. Notch signaling in the mammalian central nervous system: insights from mouse mutants. Nat Neurosci 8, 709–715 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1475

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